Track and Field

SOPOT, Poland — Team USA, led by captains Bernard Lagat (Tucson, Ariz.) and Michelle Carter (Ovilla, Texas), is poised and ready for the 14th IAAF World Indoor Championships, March 7-9, at Ergo Arena in Sopot, Poland.

2014 U.S. women’s high jump champion Inika McPherson (Houston, Texas) will be the first athlete competing for Team USA in the qualifying round of the women’s high jump to open competition. The event begins at 10 a.m. CET/4 a.m. ET.

The first event on the track in the morning session is the heats of the women’s 400 meters. Both Francena McCorory (Hampton, Va.) and Joanna Atkins (Minneloa, Fla.) will look to advance out of their heats beginning at 10:05 a.m. CET/4:05 a.m. ET. McCorory took home the U.S. indoor title with a world-leading 50.85.

SOPOT, Poland -- U.S. Women’s 1500m Champion Mary Cain (Bronxville, N.Y.) has withdrawn from the IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships due to injury, USATF announced Monday.

“Unfortunately I will not be able to travel to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot,” Cain said in a statement. “Over the past week, I developed a discomfort in my lower calf. I had an MRI scan on Saturday and it was all clear, but I still feel the pain when I wear spikes and have decided not to risk making it worse in Poland. I hope to be able to run in the World Indoor Championships many times in the future. I wish all my fellow USA athletes the best and hope they bring home lots of medals from Poland.”

(photo: Gabriele Grunewald following closely behind Jordan Hasay) INDIANAPOLIS – Gabriele Grunewald has been reinstated as the 2014 USA indoor women’s 3,000-meter champion and named to Team USA for the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships, USATF CEO Max Siegel announced Monday. Grunewald will be joined by Shannon Rowbury in the women’s 3,000m at World Indoors, March 7-9 in Sopot, Poland.

Siegel on Monday spoke with representatives for Grunewald and Jordan Hasay, the two athletes involved in jostling during the women’s 3,000 contested Saturday at the 2014 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque. Grunewald won the race, followed by Rowbury, Sara Vaughn and Hasay, but she was ultimately disqualified by the Jury of Appeal for clipping Hasay’s stride. The final disqualification was made on the basis of enlarged, digital footage of the legs and feet of both athletes.

ALBUQUERQUE — A USA Indoor Championship meet record went down Sunday, as Olympian Ryan Whiting (Port Matilda, Pa.) etched his name in the record books as competition wrapped up at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Whiting was second until his fifth throw of the meet, tossing a mark of 22.23m/72-11.25 to become the fifth-best indoor performer in the world all-time and third in the U.S. all-time. Whiting broke USA Track & Field Hall of Famer John Godina’s previous mark of 21.83m/71-7.50 (2005).

The men’s 60-meter hurdles result was taken to the hundredth, as Omoghan Osaghae (Lubbock, Texas) defended his national title in 7.553, just edging Dominic Berger (Mitchellville, Md.) in 7.556.

ALBUQUERQUE -- Bernard Lagat ran the fastest time by an American in meet history and took home the men’s 3000m title in a time of 7:46.01 to highlight day two of the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.

Lagat (Tuscon, Ariz.) stayed in the middle of the pack til the 2800 meter mark when he and Galen Rupp (Portland, Ore.) took off ahead of the fray. Lagat sat patiently in sixth before turning on his kick with 120 meters to go to finish first ahead of Rupp who crossed the line 7:48.19.